Flowers Galore

This year is proving to be rather good for my flower garden. Admittedly I'm probably more comfortable growing vegetables and not exactly a flowering garden guru. I find it hard to remember the varieties of flowering plants, how long they last and how they should be treated etc. Some of the non-edibles growing in the garden I only know the Bulgarian names of and really should look them up on the internet and see how to care for them properly. One of the species I do know is Calendula and they are in abundance this year and looking wonderful. So many different shades of oranges and yellows and they always seem to brighten my day, I love taking photographs of them.

Most of the Calendula and different varieties of Marigolds growing this year are from saved seeds, which I randomly scattered around the flower beds to create and haphazard effect.  I'll save seeds again from them all later in the year. My Vinca Minor and Vinca Major (variegated) are doing rather well now too, the latter hanging very nicely over the garden wall although they haven't had many flowers bloom this time. The geraniums and pelargoniums are coming along well and starting to flower now, they are cuttings saved from last year's plants that have overwintered in the house.

Of course the Lavender is doing well and I love the smell of it every time I pass close. Cornflowers are opening now and adding a touch of blue amongst the foliage and predominantly yellow and orange flowers. And I've finally decided what one of the Bulgarian mystery plants that were given to me are - it's a Dahlia and should flower in the next few weeks hopefully. I'll have to remember to dig it up for the winter.

The weather right now is very strange for the time of year - we've had more storms than ever, temperatures have dropped around 10 degrees C into the mid twenties, and the rain today has been awful, almost violent! All of the animals were inside early and happy to be somewhere dry, poor Maggie the donkey looked utterly miserable when I went to get her in and decided to fore go her usual roll in the building sand that is part of her daily routine! Hopefully things will brighten up again over the next few days and get back to normal. What's the June weather like in your part of the world?